Ambitious plans for community telco

The new chief executive of Bendigo Community Telco talks about his plans.

ADAM Lacey has only been the chief executive of Bendigo Community Telco for 24 hours, but he already has many plans in the pipeline.

LEADER: Adam Lacey is the new chief executive of Bendigo Community Telco. Picture: JODIE DONNELLAN

Mr Lacey said the prospect of joining a growing company bursting with potential excited him.

"It's going to go from a very local, relatively small boutique into a truly national telco that will rival the likes of Telstra and iiNet," he said.

"It's great for the business and shareholders and it's a very positive story for the local community in terms of employment opportunities."

Bendigo Community Telco started as a small business that was majority owned by local businesses, staff and local shareholders to provide internet telecommunications advice and solutions to medium-sized businesses.

Mr Lacey admitted that rivaling the likes of Telstra - which has 45,000 employees - would be a fair challenge for a company of 60 staff members.

But he said the business' edge was with its personal service and the fact it hired locals.

"It's an absolute advantage that we have local people who answer the phone, who are in Australia and who support local communities," he said.

"That makes us a serious threat for a relatively smaller player to some of the larger organisations that perhaps put profit before people."

Mr Lacey said the business would focus on its key service areas, including private internet networks and wide-area networks.

He said his leadership style was one that empowered people and he would encourage his staff to lift the company's profile together.

"I like to run an organisation with integrity, openness and not forgetting to have a sense of fun, where BTC is somewhere our team members want to come to work in the morning," he said.

Before moving to Bendigo, Mr Lacey was a senior strategic sales manager at Telstra, and has previously held senior positions at Digicel Group, AAPT and Optus. As for any more detail about Mr Lacey's plans for the company, he won't give away much but does provide a veiled hint.

"All I can say is, until we have formalised certain agreements, is 'watch this space'," he said.